Machine for perforating strips.



DI N 0 T S N A IL No. 654,!I5.

MACHINE FOR PERFOBATING STRIPS.

(Application filed June 27, 1899.) v (No ModeL). I6 Sheets-Shani I.

wi/bneooeo N0. 654,ll5. Patented July l7, I900. I

T. LANSTON.

MACHINE FOB PERFORATINE STRIPS.

(Appl'iention filed June 27, was.

(No Model.) I6 Sheets8heet 2.

N0. 654,ll5. I Pat ented July l7, I900. T. LANSTDN.

MACHINE FORPERFORATING STRIPS.

(Application filed June 27, 1899.) (No llodel.) l6 Sheets-Sheet 3.

A; Mane/1 1 WWI/moses No. 654,!!5. Patented luly l7, I900.

T. LANSTON.

MACHINE FOR PERFORATING STRIPS.

(Application filed June 27, 1899.) (No Model.) l6 Sheets-Sheet 4.

727W M72672 "7 642W No. s54,||5. Patented July l7, I900. T. LANSTON.

MACHINE FOR PEBFORATING STRIPS.

(Application filed June 27, 1899.) (No fll del.) l6 Sheets-Sheet 5.

J6 @lu-vauloz Witnesses J42 J9 J3 %m (No Model.)

Patented July l7, I900. T. LANSTON.

MACHINE FOR PERFORATING STRIPS.

(Application filed June 27, 1899.)

I6 Sheets-Sham 6.

No. 654,!l5. Patented July l7, I900.

T. LANSTON. I MACHINE FOR PERFOBATING STRIPS.

( Application filed June 27, 1599.

I6 Shear-Sheet 8.

(No Model.)

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Patented July I7, 1900. T. LANSTON.

MACHINE FOR PEBFORATING STRIPS.

(Application filed June 27, 1699.) I I6 Sheets-Shaet 9,

%\%N R% \N was W I A; atmm m: NORRIS PErznspa. PNOTO-LITHQ, WASHINGTON. a

No. 654,||5. Patented .luly I7, I900.

T.LANSTON.

MACHINE FOR PERFUBATING STRIPS; (No Model.) (Appmmn med June 1899') I6 Sheets-Shani [0.

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wh m macaw Patented July l7, I900.

(Application filed June 27, 1899.)

I6 Shear-Sheet II.

(No Model.)

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Patented July l7, I900. T. LANSTUN. v MACHINE FOR PERFOR ATING STRIPS.

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(N M d I 1 pplication filed. June 57, 1899.)

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No. 654,115. Patented July 17, I900.

T. LANSTON. MACHINE FOR PERFORATIN'G STRIPS.

(Application filed June 27, 1899. 1 (No Model.) [6 Sheets8heet l3.

A; mfowm No. 654,ll5. Patented .Iuly I7, I900.

T. LANSTON. MACHINE FOB PERFORATING STRIPS.

("a Model.) (Application filed June 37, 1899;) I6 shoots sheet I4- WIN! "mun I I I I I I #IMHIHIIIIIIIIIIlllllllllllllfllllll lli I No. 654,|I5. Patented July l7, I900.

T. LANSTON.

MACHINE FOR PERFOBATING STRIPS.

(Application filed June 27, 1899.) 4 (No Model.) l6 Sheets-Sheet l5.

4 Queen/M No. 654,!I5. Patented m l7 i900.

T. LANSTUN.

MACHINE FOR PERFDBATING STRIPS.

(Application filed June 27, 1899.) (No Model.) l6 Shear-Shoe! l6.

Nrrno STATES PATENT TOLBERT LANSTON, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

Sl-T'IECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 654,115, dated July 17, 1900.

Application filed time 27,1899. Serial No. 722,062. on, model.)

T0 00% whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, TOLBERT LANSTON, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Washington, in the District of Columbia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machines for Preparing the Perforated Record-Strips of Type-Forming Machines; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification,and to the figures of reference marked thereon.

The present invention relates, generically, to improvements in controllable perforating mechanisms, and specifically to the class of manually-controlled or keyboard punchingmachines-such, for example, as those employed in connection with the Lanston Monotype and similar systems-for the production or preparation of perforated record strips or controllers, the latter being utilized to govern or control other mechanisms, such as type-making machinery, in the production of printing characters.

Although, as will be obvious, numerous features of the invention are applicable to other styles and varieties of perforating-machines, the several improvements are shown as embodied in a perforating-machine designed to accomplish the same class of work and adapted to the same system as the perforating-machine forming the subject of Letters Patent No. 590,763, dated September 28, l897--that is to say, this machine, like that of the patent referred to, is specially organized to produce a perforated record strip or controller forgoverning a type-making machine, the perfora-v tions representing by their number and relative arrangement the characters, spaces, justification-adjustments, &c. While the said points of similarity exist between the 'patented apparatus and the present invention, by the present improvements the mechanisms for accomplishing the desired ends are greatly simplified, and while such mechanisms are controlled by the operator the labor of controlling the same is materially reduced by the employment of intermediate power mechanism, (in the present machine compressed air,) and generally more accurate and complete results are attained, particularly with respect to the justification indications, the machine indicating to the operator exactly which justification-keys are to be struck in order to produce a record for a completely justified line, thereby eliminating all necessityfor mental calculation and the consequent liability of error. i e

Generally speaking, while the mechanism is an organized whole designed for accom plishing a unitary result embodied in the record strip or controller, yet for the purposes of detail, description, and the more ready understanding of the mechanical elements or.- ganized to produce such result the mechanism may be divided into groups-snch as, first,

distributed and combined, so as to represent.

and control the production of the separate types, points, spaces, &c., pertaining to the selected font, while certain other perforations control thesetting of the justifying mechanism to vary the thickness of the bodies (preferably only certain selected bodies, as space-type) setwise and to inaugurate the movement of the galley mechanism at the completion of each line; third, the keyboard or finger mechanism operating either mediately or immediately upon other mechanisms to control their movements; fourth, the justifying-indicator for indicating-to the operator the appropriate justification-keys to be operated to make perforations for a properlyjustified line; fifth, a line-indicator for indicating the length of line, the number of units occupied by the designatedcharacters, and the'number of units remaining unfilled in a line,- and, sixth, the resetting mechanism for restoring the parts, particularly the indicating mechanism, to the zero-point ready for subsequent operations.

The details of the several mechanisms and their corelation will be now describedgthe particular features of novelty ofthe said invention being set forth in the appended claims.

Referring to the accompanying drawings,

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a,keyboard record-producing mechanism embodying the present improvements. Fig. 2 is a side elevation looking at the right-hand side with a portion of the justification-chart broken away. Fig. 3 is a similar View looking at the opposite side of the machine. Fig. 4is atop plan view, the record-strip being removed. Fig. 5 is a front elevation, the j ustificatiou-chart and record-strip being removed. Fig. 6 is a bottom plan showing the system of air pipes or ducts. Fig. 7 is a vertical section through a portion of the machine on a line from front to rear at substantially the center. Fig. Sis a transverse section in a plane longitudinally of the motor-cylinders for the units wheel and rack. Fig. 9 is a transverse section taken in rear of said cylinders and looking toward the front of the machine. Fig. 10 is a section taken on a substantiallyhorizontal plane through the top of the keyboard to show the ducts for the horizontal rows of keys. Fig. 11 is a similar View taken on a somewhathigher plane to show the ducts for the col umns of keys. Fig. 12 is a detail vertical section through one side of the keyboard to show one of the air-ducts. Fig. 13 is a plan showing the preferred aggroupment of characters .in the keyboard and also, diagrammatically,

the punches and some of the connections with the keys. Fig. 14 is a diagrammatic view of the keyboard and punch-operating pistons, showing the connections with the horizontal rows and columns of keys. Fig. 15 is a detail sectional view taken longitudinally of one of the bars which form the keyboard. Fig. .16 is a detail section taken at right angles to Fig. 15. Fig. 17 is a detail elevation of the control-shaft and some of the adjacent mechanism. Figs. 18 and 19 are detail sections taken transversely through opposite ends of the control-shaft to show the ports and passages leading to the motor-cylinders. Fig. 20 is a top plan View of the pawls for operating the justification-indicator. Fig. 21 is a transverse detail section showing the pawl and 3' ustification-indicator bar in elevation. Fig. 22 is a top plan view of the rocking frame for controlling the paper-feed. Fig. 23 is a detail section through the paper-feed motor- .cylinder and controlling-valve. Figs. 24, 25, and 26 are details of the rack-bar and associated mechanism. Fig. 27 is a detail perspective of the units-rack carrier and rack.

Fig. 28 is a vertical section through the unitsrack-bar frame, showing one of the stops in elevation. Fig. 29 is a perspective view of the rack-bar-frame-operating lever. Fig. 30 is an elevation of the group of stops or stopbars. Fig. 31 is a projection of the j ustification-chart, a few only of the characters being shown. Fig. 32 is a detail of the valve in the duct to the return motor-cylinder for the rackbar. Fig. 33 is a detail View of the stop for adjusting the length of the line.

Although the machine as a whole is commonly designated a keyboard, this term is more properly applied to that portion of the p machine containing and including the fingerpieces and the parts immediately associated therewith, and it is with this understanding that the term is hereinafter employed.

By reference to Fig. 1 it will be seen that the several mechanisms or groups of mechanisms which go to make up the organized machine are mounted upon a base frame or casing 1, which may be of any approved form and construction. The keys of the keyboard occupy the front inclined portion and may be conveniently arranged in transverse or horizontal rows and perpendicular or vertical columns, as shown.

Back of the keyboard and above the rearwardly-extending portion 2 of the base is located the indicating mechanism, the designating mechanism or punches, and the paper supporting and feeding mechanisms, the said punches and paper supporting and feeding mechanisms being preferably mounted in a supplemental frame 3, which may be bolted or otherwise fastened to the upper surface of the rearward extension 2 of the base; but it will be understood that this base and upwardly-extending frame, including the parts 1, 2, and 3, constitute merely the supportingframe of the machine and in mechanical construction and appearance may be altered or varied or, in fact, entirely omitted, if other supports are substituted, without in any wise aifecting the machine or the invention herein involved.

Mechanism for holding'and feeding the paper.-The frame 3 is provided at the top with bearings 4, preferably open, for the reception of the shaft of the supply-roll 5, and in addition it is provided with bearings 6 for the shaft of the winding or receiving roll 7, one of said bearings 6 (that on the left-hand side, Figs. 3 and 5) having mounted in it a short shaft, terminating in a disk 8, from which the windingroll receives its motion, and said shaft is provided on the outer side of said bearing 6 with a gear-wheel 9, mounted loosely thereon and connected therewith through friction-disks l0 and an adjustable spring tension 11 for determining the power required to move the said shaft and gear-wheel 9 independently for a purpose which will presently appear.

The strip of paper or other material in its .passage from the supply-roll 5 to the winding-roll 7 .passes down around a curved die 12, preferably made hollow and with an opening at the top for the removal of punchings, which latter are forced into it by means of punches working up through a die or guide bar 13, Fig. 7, into the curved die 12, as will presently appear.

Passing centrally through the curved die 12,with its axis coincident with the curvature of the face of said die, is a paper-feed shaft 14. This shaft carries at each end of the die 12 a pin-wheel 15, adapted to enter and cooperate with previously-formed marginal perforations in the paper strip. At its left-hand IIO end the feed-shaft 14 carries a gear-wheel 16, meshing with an idler 17, journaled on the side of the frame 3, said idler also meshing with the gear-wheel 9, the arrangement being such that when rotation is imparted to the feed-shaft let the winding-shaft, through the train of gears and disk 8, will also be rotated, and any variation in feed due to the increasing size of the winding-roll will be compensated for by the slip of the gear 9 upon the shaft of the winding-roll, so that the tension of the paper will be maintained and its forward movement restrained and controlled with certainty by the movement of the shaft and pin-wheels before referred to.

Obviously the feeding movement of the paper must take place at a time when the punches are withdrawn therefrom, and for this purpose at the left-hand end of the feedshaft there is provided an intermittently-operating feeding mechanism, preferably a pawl-and-ratchet driver, operated by mechanism thrown into action for feeding the paper as the punches are retracted.

A ratchet-wheel 18, Fig. 2, is rigidly mounted on the end of the feed-shaft 14, and cooperating with this ratchet-wheel to rotate the same is a pawl 19, mounted on a pawl-carrier and lock-release 20, journaled on the extreme end of the shaft 14. The pawl carrier is adapted to be reciprocated by a connectingrod 21, extending down into the base of the machine and connected with a motor-piston, (see Fig. 23,) whose operation will be herein after more specifically described in connection with the punching mechanism. When the pawl-carrier is moved forward, it is obvious that the ratchet-wheel and feed-shaft will be advanced a definite distance or a distance proportionate to the range of movement of the pawl-carrier, and this range of movement is determined by an adjustable stop 22 on the frame of the machine. To hold the pawl 19 in position to engage the teeth of the ratchet-wheel l8 and also to aid the forward movement of the pawl-carrier, a spring 23 is attached at one end to the rear portion of the pawl and at the opposite end to the frame.

To prevent retrograde movement of the feed-shaft, a holding-pawl 2a is employed, the latter being pivoted on the frame and held in engagement with the ratchet-wheel 18 by a spring 25, and in order to prevent any overthrow of the feed-shaft and to cause the same to stop when a definite feed has taken place the said shaft 14 is provided with a second reversely-toothed ratchet-wheel 26, Figs. '1 and 5, with which latter a spring-pressed locking-pawl 27, Fig. 2, is adapted to cooperate when thrown into engagement therewith by the pawl-carrier 20, the latter cooperating with the rear end of the said looking or checking pawl 27. The locking or checking pawl 27 it will be understood is normally held out of engagement by its spring, while the pawl-carrier 2O throws it into engagement with the teeth of its ratchet-wheel at the'proper instant to check the forward movement of the feed-shaft when the desired extent of feed has taken place, thereby insuring a uniform feed and preventing an overthrow of the paper-feeding mechanism.

The punching mechamsra-The punches 226 (thirty-one in number in the present machine) work up through the guide-bar 13 and into the die 12, which latter, as before stated, is made hollow for the reception of the punchings. The guide-bar 13 properly spaces and maintains the position and alinement of the punches themselves, and said punches are connected at their lower ends, preferably by a rivet or pin, with the upper ends of a corresponding series of punch-bars 227, the latter passing down through a guide 28 and having their lower ends pivotally connected with a corresponding series of operating-levers 29. These operating-levers 29, Fig. 7, are pivotally mounted at their forward ends upon a shaft carried in bearings 30, Fig. 6, on the under side of the base-frame 1, and the connection between the said levers and the punch-bars is preferably formed by recessing the said levers at one side and forming the end of the punch-bar to fit such recess, Whereby a pivotal connection is formed without the employment of pins and without occupying a materially-greater space than the thickness of the levers themselves. The punches comprising the series are arranged side by side in line (shown diagrammatically in Fig. 13 and in front elevation in Fig. 5) whose length is somewhat less than the width of the record strip or paper within latter may exercise the desired control over the former.

Heretofore elaborate lever mechanisms have been interposed between the finger-keys and punches for controlling the latter; but they are necessarily complicated, cumber some, and costly, besides which they operate as material limitations upon the speed capacity of the machine. To overcome these and other defects incident to the use of mechanical connections and to simplify the construction of the machine, as well as to lighten the labor of the operator, a pneumatic or fluid-pressure system has been devised and embodied in the present machine. With these ends in View the lovers 29 are arranged to be operated by pneumatic or fluid-pressure devices, the application of the latter to or upon the several levers being controlled by the movements of the finger-pieces through suitable valves connected to or preferably formed integral with the finger-pieces. In the simplest form of application of this principle each of the levers 29 has connected with it a motor-piston 31, Figs. 7 and 9, working in a cylinder preferably formed in a cylind er-block 32, supported by the rear portion 2 of the baseframe and extending across beneath the rear ends of the said levers 29. Each cylinder is furnished with a duct or passage 33, through which communication is established,by means of tubes or conduits, with a pressure-supply chamber, as will hereinafter be more particularly described.

Pressure supplied to any cylinder or combination of cylinders beneath the pistons 31 will raise the same, together with the connected levers, and such levers in turn will operate the punch-bars. The range of movement of the levers may be controlled by a horizontal frame 34, adjustably mounted in the rear end of the base, and their position laterally may also be controlled by guides 35, betweenwhich the reduced ends 36 of the levers 29 move.

A rocking frame 37, Figs. 7 and 22, journaled on a shaft 38,extends horizontally above the rear ends of the levers 29, and bearing upon the top of this rocking frame isa springpressed piston or push-rod 39 for insuring a prompt and uniform return of the levers to their normal positions after being operated, and in order to regulate the power exerted by the rocking frame 37 the spring 40 for depressing the push-rod 39 is preferably extended above the base-frame in position to be readily accessible from the exterior of the machine, as will be understood from an inspection of Fig. 7.

As will be seen from the foregoing, the frame 37 is oscillated each time any one or more of the levers 29 is raised, and advantage is taken of this fact-to operate the paper-feed mechanism during the return stroke of the levers or the downward movement of the "rocking frame 37. To accomplish this result, there is adjustably connected to one end of the said frame 37 the stem 4:1 ofa valve 42, Fig. 23, which latter controls the admission and exhaust of pressure in the cylinder 43, containing the piston 44, connected with the paperfeed operating rod 21. Pressure is maintained in the valve-chest through a conduit 45, and this pressure may be admitted either above or below the piston 44 through ports 46 in the valve, and the pressure may be exhausted either from above or below said piston through the ports 47 in said valve. The

ports are so arranged that when the valve is elevated by the upward movement of the rocking frame 37 pressure will be admitted above the piston 44 and exhausted from beneath the same, the paper-feed-pawl carrier being thereby drawn down without operating the paperfeed shaft. As the frame 37 returns to its normal or lowered position the conditions are reversed, and pressure is admitted beneath the piston 44; and exhausted from above the same, the paper-feed-pawl carrier being there-.

by given its operative or upward stroke to feed the paper forward ready for the next designating or perforating operation.

Ifeyboardorfingermechanisom-Inasmuch as the punched strip, the product of the present embodiment of the'invention, is the controlling element of a special form of type casting and composing machine and serves by its perforations to position the die-case by movements in transverse planes to center the selected matrix, said die-case containing a series of matrices arranged symmetrically in lines and columns, each column containing characters of the same width setwise and each line characters whose widths increase progressively from one end of the line to the other, it becomes a matter of convenience and advantage to adopt the same arrangement of characters on the keyboard-that is to say, the finger-piece for controlling the punches correspond in their relative arrangement with the columns and' lines of the die-case in the character producing or casting machine, and in order to produce proper combinations of punches those punches producing representations of characters in the columns will be operated by the columns of finger-pieces, and those producing representationsof characters in the lines will be operated by the lines of finger-pieces. Consequently when any finger-piece is operated the mechanism will be set into action, so as to simultaneously advance a punch for designating the column in whichsaid finger-piece is located and a second punch for designating the particular character in that column, or, in other words, the line in which that finger-piece is located.

For convenience in manipulation the finger-pieces of the keyboard are arranged on an inclined plane at the front of the machine, each horizontal row being successively higher than the next preceding row. The fingerpieces 48 are each in the form of a valve for controlling the admission of pressure to the motor-cylinders of the operating-levers, and as a convenient means forsupplyin g this pressure the front and upper portion of the baseframe 1 is made hollow and constitutes a pressure-supply chamber 49, Fig. 7, to which pressure may be supplied from any suitable source, as a pump or reservoir, through a flexible connection, as shown at 50 in Figs. 3 and 4;. For convenience of manufacture the top of the pressure'chamber 49 is preferably formed of a series of bars 51, each having a series of vertical perforations and projections 52, Figs.

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7, l5, and 16, in which the valves or stems 53 of the finger-pieces 48 work. Extending longitudinally of each bar 51that is, from front to rear of the board-is a channel, main, or passage 54:, Figs. 11, 12, and 16, one for each column of finger-pieces. There is also formed 

